The birds do it; the bees do it; teenagers most certainly do it and so do water buffalo. The ‘urban water buffalo’ - an exploding social phenomenon of old men with young, Thai women - is very common in Bangkok.

The water buffalo are defined by their characteristics of being Western-sized large, frequently slow, good for making money out of and usually grey.

This much-coveted species is often found outside such entrepôts as Louis Vuitton, Coach and other exclusive boutiques for women. As the men bray in protest at the size of the designer label shopping bills they are being asked to cover, the young women flash their doe-like black eyes. With steely resolve, these often very young, barely legal, women enforce their unwritten contracts against men who have deluded themselves into believing their May-December relationship is anything but the commercial opportunity that it is. Although it is easy for an outsider to condemn, this is perhaps not a well-considered conclusion as the cultural references in which it occurs are very different from our own.

Firstly, one has to look at the rapidly shifting demographics of Thailand, which have caused massive rural poverty. As the government concentrates on encouraging industrial growth and expanding exports, it has poured money into urban development and mainly ignored the needs of rural Thailand. A World Bank reportfrom 2012 states that 66.7 per cent of Thais live outside the major centres, where there is little employment for a populace moving away from its agrarian roots.

For most, the few decent work opportunities that are available are limited by being products of an education system ranked the worst in Southeast Asia and listed 77th among 142 countries by the World Economic Forum Global Competitive Report. So waves of people come to Bangkok in search of a livelihood in a workforce for which they are ill-prepared. The result according to MP Chuvit Kamolvisit, leader of the Rak Prathet Thai Party, is a burgeoning 5ex industry estimated to involve up to a million women.

Secondly, social values around the place of women in society, and their extreme lack of empowerment, increase women’s vulnerability to be drawn into a 5ex-related occupation. Simply put, women are subject to a high level of violence inside and outside the home. The Leadership Academy of Muslim Women found “over 40 per cent of women report having experienced physical or 5exual violence by an intimate partner".

So ingrained is violence against women that the Nation newspaperquotes Shoko Ishikawa of UN Women East and Southeast Asia as citing a statistic that more than seven in 10 women in rural Thailand believe there are circumstances in which it is justifiable for a man to beat his wife. And, although the 2007 Thai constitution guarantees equality, such laws are treated as 'guidelines' in the real world, leaving gender inequality and discrimination the norm in Thailand. This is often expressed in the high incidence of .... and physical assaults. Female Thai friends say they are afraid to take taxis and motor bicycle transports after dark.It must also be factored into any understanding of these relationships that societal mores around 5exual relationships in Thailand are different from those of the West. 5ex is far more open here. A Durex-sponsoredstudy of faithfulness in intimate relationships among 29,000 respondents in 36 countries found that Thai men lead the world, with 54 per cent admitting to being unfaithful. Thai women kept apace with a 59 per cent unfaithful rating, second only to Ghana’s women at 62 per cent.In context, an intimate couple may not really consider that the woman is cheating by having a concomitant relationship with a Western male because it is only a business transaction, the nature of which would not carry a connotation of prostitution for many Thais. Interestingly, business is one thing, but Thai men are wary of their partners finding out about their lovers for justifiable fear of losing their manhood. A colloquialism holds that a man has to return to his conjugal bed or his partner may “that hai pet kin” (roughly translated as “to cut and feed to the duck”, ie thereby making the organ unavailable for reattachment). It is a serious threat: Bangkok is known as the .....-reattachment capital of the world.Ill-educated and with no “silver-spoon” connections, many Thai women’s only resource is themselves, and they know better than to squander their one advantage in a transactional economy. And some of them are quite industrious about it. It is not unusual for the women to have several Western boyfriends. As the expats return to their home countries, they show their appreciation by sending their girlfriends money every month until they can take another Asian sojourn, encouraged by the women’s promises of “I love you too much". It beats the women working in a brothel run by organised crime.So, older men - who probably never had such beautiful, charming and acquiescent women give them the time of day even when they were young and virile - get to fulfil their fantasies. Wealthy, older men with younger, trophy wives, is a cliché in Western society. This new take on elder care simply lowers the entry cost, making such relationships available for the average bloke. For the women, it brings a substantial redistribution of tourist income. Clearly, these relationships are not acceptable in polite Thai society, but they do sometimes evolve into marriage - German is the most common nationality of foreign husbands.But with few opportunities for so many women, who are we to judge the choices the women have made? And, as for the men, trouble only arises when they forget the social context of the relationship and become delusional about its true nature. If they do not want to be part of the Old 5expats Club, then they should not play the game.

Laura Fearn is the nom de plume of a Canadian expat who lives in Thailand and works as a freelance writer and bloggerreporting on life in Asia.

So, older men - who probably never had such beautiful, charming and acquiescent women give them the time of day even when they were young and virile - get to fulfil their fantasies. Wealthy, older men with younger, trophy wives, is a cliché in Western society. This new take on elder care simply lowers the entry cost, making such relationships available for the average bloke. For the women, it brings a substantial redistribution of tourist income. Clearly, these relationships are not acceptable in polite Thai society, but they do sometimes evolve into marriage - German is the most common nationality of foreign husbands.